The material most commonly used for leading edges for reinforced aircraft is Glare, a metallic laminate of fiberglass-reinforced fibers made up of several thin layers of metal, usually aluminum, placed between preimpregnated layers of fiberglass, joined by means of an epoxy-type resin. The unidirectional preimpregnated layers can be aligned in different directions to meet the required reinforcement conditions.
Glare belongs to metallic aerospace materials; it is not a composite material. Therefore the application and manufacture of Glare is very close to that of aluminum, having very little in common with composite material structures in terms of design, manufacture, inspection and maintenance.
In modern aircraft, the cost of implementing Glare is very high while at the same time its capacity to adapt to the deformability requirement and its capacity to absorb energy coming from impacts are extremely complex.
The present invention is therefore aimed at solving these drawbacks for the case of leading edges for aircraft made of reinforced composite material.